Near average rainfall prevailed most of the season but localized deficits appeared in September

KEY MESSAGES

The total rainfall for the first 2 dekads of September (Figure 1 and Figure 2) has been below average over most of the region, with large portions in Niger, Chad, central-western Senegal, the Senegal/Mauritania border area, southwestern Burkina Faso, and northern Ghana affected by severe deficits.

Despite initial progress, implementation of the peace accord in South Sudan had been disrupted, the senior United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today, as he urged members to speak in one voice in persuading all parties to lay down their arms and return to negotiations.

During the reporting period, the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa held two ministerial meetings. The forty-third meeting was held in Sao Tome from 28 November to 1 December 2016 and the forty-fourth meeting was held in Yaoundé from 29 May to 2 June 2017. Both meetings were organized by the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), in its capacity as secretariat of the Committee.

KINSHASA, Sep. 25, 2017 - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of MONUSCO, Maman Sidikou, is gravely concerned by the use of lethal force by Congolese defense and security forces in response to public protests in Bukavu, South Kivu province, leading to civilian casualties including children.

Maha is from Homs in Syria. The conflict in her home country forced her to leave her home and seek refuge in neighbouring Jordan. The 51-year-old tailor lost one of her sons in the war and is now the sole provider for her family of eight.

In the beginning, Maha recalls, she was nervous about being accepted by the Jordanian community. But with 35 years of experience in tailoring, she knew she had something to offer. She joined a skills exchange programme to help young Jordanian women learn the trade.

According to the National Society’s assessments carried out in the past weeks, a heavy increase in the influx of refugees has been recorded, straining the capacity of the reception and transition centres (TC). The recent increase has triggered an immediate scale-up of the National Society’s activities in order to support and to increase the capacity of the existing transit centres as well as to allow for support outside the centres. The assessment has indicated that the trend is likely to continue, and that the National Society’s interventions may need to be further scaled up.